Koumassi is one of the ten districts of Abidjan, the financial capital of Côte d'Ivoire (the political and administrative capital is Yamoussoukro). For over ten years Koumassi has suffered the consequences of the dramatic situation that has affected Abidjan and the rest of the country: poverty, urban decay, pollution (with some serious cases of intoxication) unemployment and violence. There is a non-profit organisation working in Koumassi called JPK (Jeunesse Pacifique de Koumassi), whose young Secretary General is Yves Arthur Gawuga Kouamé. JPK cherishes an important dream, a dream that is not only dependent on goodwill, but on experience and sound expertise: to create a Computer School at Koumassi, with the aim of taking young people off the streets and offering them professional training and a qualification in a sector which is rapidly developing throughout the world. “Our overall project foresees the creation of training centres in all the activities of the service sector, but first of all – and this is the dream – we must start with the first Professional Computer Training School” says the Secretary General. “In order to emerge from this hopeless situation, we have to ensure our young people grow up and find employment, which is the way towards an international economy. We already have suitable premises - with three large rooms and several offices – and a highly-qualified teaching staff ready to take up the job of training the young people of Koumassi for professions closely linked to the use of computers. We want the next generation to be able to contribute to the progress of Côte d'Ivoire, marking a new beginning.

It will allow our country to achieve real progress, with a network of international collaboration and the creation of new business projects. In order to keep the project alive now that we are ready to start it (with the support of local institutions) we find ourselves short of the necessary computer technology: one hundred computers and the relevant teaching material”. Considering that computer technology is rather inexpensive in Côte d'Ivoire, EveryOne Group, together with Jeuness Pacifique de Koumassi, hopes to collect a minimum of 50,000 euros (the necessary amount for purchasing the workstations and teaching aids) within six months from today. We are sending out an appeal to companies, businessmen, managers, institutions, the press and individuals asking them to contact EveryOne Group and JPK and contribute towards this project. We are willing to guarantee ample visibility to anyone sponsoring the project, publishing their names and brands both at the training centre in Koumassi, and also by mentioning them in our press releases, interviews and articles relevant to the “Bits for Africa” project.

Some teachers from Koumassi chosen for the “Bits For Africa Project”

We are about to hold an international auction of art works, releasing 20 works by Pablo Picasso, Keith Haring, Francesco Messina, Franco Gentilini, Ennio Morlotti, Dario Picciau, Roberto Malini, Steed Gamero, Henri Matisse, and Alberto Giacometti for the sum of 2.500 euros each (if we are able to sell them all, we would obtain the amount necessary to open the first Computer School of Koumassi).

“Psyche in Chains”, has been realized with a mixed technique of computer art and traditional painting by Roberto Malini, Dario Picciau and the other artists of the Watching the Sky group. The group presents an artistic journey which aims to liberate the Psyche archetype, persecuted and reduced to ashes over the course of history, but always renascent, like a chimera of hope...

Genova from January 26th to Feruary 1st. Portraits of women who survived the ghettos and death camps, pictured in their home environment, without rhetoric or celebrative emphasis. Three women in particular “will look at” the public from the walls of the Biblioteca De Amicis of Genoa, with a message that is becoming more and more relevant for the present day...

The “Holocaust and Genocide Art” collection springs from a cultural, memorial and educational project aimed at new generations, a project to which the Hilo Art Museum of the Hawaiian Islands (USA) has shown itself to be particularly sensitive. Ted Coombs, the museum’s director...